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The Amarr Empire is a vast star empire that controls more regions of the New Eden cluster than any of the other core empires. The Amarr began aggressively expanding beyond the confines of their home star system over 2,000 years ago, conquering and enslaving several races in a crusade known as the Reclaiming, before encountering the Gallente Federation and the Jove Empire. A disastrous attempt to invade the Jove Empire triggered a rebellion by Minmatar slaves, resulting in the formation of the Minmatar Republic and the loss of some territory.

The Amarr Empire, together with satellite states the Ammatar Mandate and Khanid Kingdom, remains a vast and powerful empire, compelled by its religion and feudal structure to dominate others. The other empires, even its ally the Caldari State, keep a careful eye on this giant lest they be caught up in a new eruption of the Reclaiming.

The Caldari State was born in war, and militarism pervades Caldari society to this day. During the Caldari-Gallente War, the Caldari were forced to leave their homeworld and found a new state many star systems distant. The leading powers in the new order were the megacorporations and from its very inception the Caldari State was a corporate state. The combination of corporate power, a strong martial tradition and a deeply-felt sense of injustice at their exile led the Caldari to rapidly build a new empire to rival those of the Amarr and Gallente.

The relatively small fleets of the Caldari State rapidly became known for their advanced technology and ruthlessness in pursuit of their objectives. Constant low-level, and occasionally intense, corporate warfare between the "Big Eight" megacorps fuelled the Caldari's internal arms race and bred a pool of efficiently implacable soldiers. More importantly, although the corporate blocs rarely lose an opportunity to profit at the expense of one another, the Caldari will always unite against external threats.

The Gallente Federation is one of the largest star empires ever to be seen in the New Eden cluster, surpassed in volume only by the vast realms of the Amarr Empire. Yet even though its many regions are patrolled by a large and powerful navy, the Federation is governed by the consent of its peoples. Remarkably, the Gallente and their partners in the Federation founded and expanded their empire according to the principles of democracy. Additionally, the Federation has done much to enhance the standard of life of all the peoples living within its borders, including migrants and exiles from other empires.

The Federation might seem to be the one pure beacon of freedom and justice in New Eden. Yet its history is not without dark episodes. Gallente Ultra-Nationalism seized power during the turbulent period leading up to the Caldari-Gallente War and contributed significantly to the embittering nature of that conflict. The Gallente government has sometimes displayed authoritarian tendencies, suppressing independence movements and exiling dissidents. Federation foreign policy is viewed with a jaded eye even by their Minmatar allies. Amarr and Caldari opinions on Gallente interventionism are rarely expressed in terms suitable for polite company. The vastness of the Federation includes poverty, criminality and outright depravity in its sweep. In the end though, it is a free society where success is conceivable for every citizen.

The Minmatar Republic is a society weighed down with a tragic and terrible history that remains alive in the present. Centuries ago, the Minmatar peoples lived in a confederation of tribes that had managed to achieve the basics of space flight, explored their home system and even begun to reach out to other stars. This progress was halted abruptly by the arrival in the Minmatar home system, Pator, of the Amarr Empire's slaver fleets. The Amarr initially contented themselves with frequent raids that gathered up millions of slaves from the technologically outclassed Minmatar nation. These raids ended when the Amarr Empire, acting on the religious imperative of their Reclaiming doctrine, launched a full-scale invasion and conquered all the Minmatar worlds, enslaving the entire race in the process.

The entire race remained enslaved until the historic battle of Vak'Atioth, when an Amarr invasion fleet was defeated by the mysterious and powerful Jove Empire. The shock of this defeat swept through the Amarr Empire and served as a spur for the gathering forces of the Minmatar resistance. Almost as one, the Minmatar rose against their masters in what would become known as "the Great Rebellion". Still reeling from their defeat at the hands of the Jove, the Amarr were unable to quell the rebellion and gave ground before Minmatar strike forces that attacked them with near suicidal fury. The outcome was the wholesale ejection of the Amarr occupation forces from Minmatar space and the foundation of the Minmatar Republic.